Duke/UNLV 1991 - ESPN Classic 04/05 noon

[DukeUsul]

Looks like ESPN Classic is showing "great" semifinal games today. Duke/UNLV 1991 is on today at noon.

Sadly.... Duke/UConnvitcs 2004 is on at 4pm.

[BlueintheFace]

The painful Duke-Uconn 04' game is on a few hours later on classic too. I'm just going to watch the last minute so I can get in a good cry and yell at the refs.

[Classof06]

I'm going to be a masochist today and record then watch that 2004 UCONN game. That was probably the hardest Duke loss I've ever had to take and I've never seen a replay of the game til today.

I can't believe I'm going to make myself watch it but I'm going to...

[VaDukie]

I'm going to be a masochist today and record then watch that 2004 UCONN game. That was probably the hardest Duke loss I've ever had to take and I've never seen a replay of the game til today.

I can't believe I'm going to make myself watch it but I'm going to...

I think I may do the same. It's scary to think that game was four years ago.

[BlueintheFace]

I completely forgot how after the game K kept giving the signal for them to calm down and play it off like it was no big deal... nice try coach.

[Cameron]

I can't believe I'm going to make myself watch it but I'm going to...


Same here. I recorded that game, as I do all televised Duke games, but was so sad with the outcome of Chris' final game in a Blue Devil uniform that I decided it wasn't worth keeping (and that is something that I rarely do; I have a library of game tapes and like to have every one). Like the '06 LSU game (my biggest heart break game of all-time), I swore to myself that I would never again watch the '04 UConn game. My cousin has a copy of the game at his house, but I have never felt the urge to watch it.

Well, I am going to today. When I saw that it was listed, I thought of it as an opportunity to watch my favorite Devil of all-time again, even in a loss. Chris personified exactly what it meant to wear the Duke name and uphold the school's mythic tradition. He bled Blue. Quite honestly, I'm desperate for the days of Duhon, and I just want to watch him on the big stage, the Final Four, once again.

I will never forget the fact that a friend of mine had to tell me that Chris' 30 foot shot at the buzzer didn't tie the game for us. I'm sure I knew it hadn't, as I was already crying after we had went down by four, but, after it fell through, I quickly clapped my hands and shouted, "He did it, he did it!" Ball game. Worst moment of reality I've ever had.

[DukeDude]

There is a little perspective to be gained from re-watching the UNLV game.

1. Coach K played 9 players in the first half and 8 players in the 2nd half. 2 of the 3 bench players from the second half would later transfer and be POY in a different conference. Coach K does use his bench (even in big games), and transfers happen, but sometimes it is best for the players and the team can work through it.

2. Pete Gaudet is about the same height as coach K. In other words, our big man coach was not a big man.

3. Coach K played a little bit of 2-3 zone in both halves. So it is nothing new for Duke.

I can't bring myself to re-watch the 2004 UCon game, but if someone wants to explain that maybe we didn't get totally robbed by the refs, I'd be willing to read it.

[Classof06]

There is a little perspective to be gained from re-watching the UNLV game.

1. Coach K played 9 players in the first half and 8 players in the 2nd half. 2 of the 3 bench players from the second half would later transfer and be POY in a different conference. Coach K does use his bench (even in big games), and transfers happen, but sometimes it is best for the players and the team can work through it.

2. Pete Gaudet is about the same height as coach K. In other words, our big man coach was not a big man.

3. Coach K played a little bit of 2-3 zone in both halves. So it is nothing new for Duke.

I can't bring myself to re-watch the 2004 UCon game, but if someone wants to explain that maybe we didn't get totally robbed by the refs, I'd be willing to read it.


Even without watching the replay yet, I can say that while the refs certainly didn't help, they weren't the reason Duke lost. It was a closely called game for all 40 minutes and even Okafor spent much of the game in foul trouble, so it's not like it was just Duke.

As a side note, does anyone think Duke might've won this game if they still had Michael Thompson and his 5 fouls? To me, Thompson's transfer was something I remember thinking about as the fouls began to rack up over the course of the game.

[Delaware]

Watching the first part of this game, I had forgotten how many shots we missed and how slow we started. Very painful. And we haven't even gotten ot the really painful part.... the 2nd half foulfest on us.

[Cameron]

The classic Duhon floater...

Also, another note to add about the game, this looked like the beginning of something HUGE for Shav Randolf. He was all over the place in the first half of that contest, including a sick, sick spin dribble-drive in the key for a lay in.

[Cameron]

We're up 36-26 with under two in the first... :( This is why you don't re-watch.

[VaDukie]

This game feels so much more painful since we haven't been back to the Final Four. The bragging rights are nice, but it's the excitement of the Final Four that I miss the most.

[Cameron]

^^100 percent agreed.

JJ just hit a triple from the right corner to put us up 59-50... Boy, I would love to go back and picture myself at that exact moment in time.

But, then again, I like to live in despair a lot.

[DukeDude]

The classic Duhon floater...

Also, another note to add about the game, this looked like the beginning of something HUGE for Shav Randolf. He was all over the place in the first half of that contest, including a sick, sick spin dribble-drive in the key for a lay in.

From my memory, Shav was the best big man in the game. Okafor just got all of the calls down the stretch that negated anyone who was outplaying him. I call it being "Hansbroughed" out of the tourney.

[Cameron]

From my memory, Shav was the best big man in the game. Okafor just got all of the calls down the stretch that negated anyone who was outplaying him. I call it being "Hansbroughed" out of the tourney.


Shav also picked up his 4th with about 15 minutes to play, which really locked him down the rest of the way... However, while we certainly got away with our fair share of calls in the first half, I would agree that UConn benefited far more as the game wore on.

Oh well, I guess. Like another poster stated, though, it's scary to think it will have been five years since our last Final Four come next March.

[Cameron]

Quick note:

If JJ hits that triple try from the left wing, at the six minute mark, which would have been his second three in a matter of 30 seconds, we go up 71-62 and win the ball game. UConn was already in a bit of an offensive slump stretch, and I think that would have demoralized them completely. A point of no return type of shot.

What could have been.

[BlueintheFace]

Deng's shot selection was pretty miserable in the last few minutes...

[Cameron]

Please tell me how JJ was not hacked at on the drive in the final seconds? Good God.

I can't believe I watched this again. What a joke.

[davekay1971]

Sometimes you have to just wallow in the pain. That game was more miserable than I remember it being.

But consider the bright side. My wife's a State fan. She always watches until the bitter end because suffering through a miserable defeat is the essense of being a State fan. She takes pride in it.

[Highlander]

Just saw the thread, and unfortunately (or not) I missed the rebroadcast. I remember staring in absolute astonishment at Shav's 5th foul. Hands straight up, trying to hold his ground as Okafor bumps him, and then he gets called for the foul.

Unbelieveable.

My biggest complaint about the officiating is that the game everyone wanted to see was Shav/Shel vs. Okafor. What we saw instead was Shav/Shel vs. UConn's 2nd string, and Okafor vs. Duke's 2nd string/Shav & Shel with 4 fouls. No one wanted to see that game.

I can certainly see the argument that we wouldn't have led at halftime had Okafor played his normal minutes, but I would have rather had the opportunity to play that one on the court instead of in my head.

Maybe its good I didn't see the game today. Would have p***ed me off all over again. Just writing this has me going...

[Coballs]

In my opinion, Duke/UConn '04 was the second most painful loss over the last 15 years.

In order:
1. UConn '99
2. UConn '04
3a. Arkansas '94
3b. Kentucky '98
5. Indiana '02

Agreed?

[DukeDude]

In my opinion, Duke/UConn '04 was the second most painful loss over the last 15 years.

In order:
1. UConn '99
2. UConn '04
3a. Arkansas '94
3b. Kentucky '98
5. Indiana '02

Agreed?

100%

[BlueintheFace]

I'd put Indiana up there higher because we all felt that terrible disappointment twice in the same game. First when we went down 4 with just seconds left... then again after hope was given to us and snatched away with the missed free throw and missed follow.

[Cameron]

Not agreed. I was shattered when JJ's playing days were ended at the hands of brutality in Georgia. He looked like a punching bag when that one was over. I wanted a title for him so bad I could honestly taste it.

I would place that game first, the '04 UConn game second, '02 Indiana third, '99 UConn fourth, and '98 Kentucky fifth (in terms of last 15 years).

I was more sad after the UConn and LSU games and more angry/violently mad after the Kentucky and Indiana games. How about some of you?

[Coballs]

I'd put Indiana up there higher because we all felt that terrible disappointment twice in the same game. First when we went down 4 with just seconds left... then again after hope was given to us and snatched away with the missed free throw and missed follow.

I don't know. Some of it may depend if and when you went to Duke. Blowing a 17 point lead with 9:30 left to Kentucky in what would be Coach K's first regional final loss was just awful to watch. And, during my sophomore year, after watching a 10 point second half lead evaporate and then losing in the last minute when it looked like Grant Hill was going to carry the team on his back to the NC, I remember feeling about as depressed as I ever had after watching a sporting event (up to that point).

[Coballs]

Not agreed. I was shattered when JJ's playing days were ended at the hands of brutality in Georgia. He looked like a punching bag when that one was over. I wanted a title for him so bad I could honestly taste it.

I would place that game first, the '04 UConn game second, '02 Indiana third, '99 UConn fourth, and '98 Kentucky fifth (in terms of last 15 years).

I was more sad after the UConn and LSU games and more angry/violently mad after the Kentucky and Indiana games. How about some of you?

'99 UConn fourth? To this day, that was the most depressing game I've ever watched amongst all the teams pull for........BY FAR!!! That Duke team was so freaking good all season. It never occurred to me that they would lose, even after the tough semi-final against a very tough Michigan St. team. I took so much crap from my friends for weeks after that game. And then things got even worse with the NBA defections and transfers.

[Karl Beem]

The '86 final was the most painful for me - especially since we thought that it would be years before the next final four. Then came the Ferry years.

[kmspeaks]

If anybody is in for some more hurting the '99 game will be on ESPN classic Monday at 2:00 pm

[BobbyFan]

99 was easily the worst for me. Haven't watched it since, but I still remember how we jumped out to a 9-2 start and then played like a team that was lost for the rest of the game. Trajan's shooting was the only factor that kept it close.

[Coballs]

If anybody is in for some more hurting the '99 game will be on ESPN classic Monday at 2:00 pm

No thanks. That won't be necessary.

[devildeac]

Even without watching the replay yet, I can say that while the refs certainly didn't help, they weren't the reason Duke lost. It was a closely called game for all 40 minutes and even Okafor spent much of the game in foul trouble, so it's not like it was just Duke.

As a side note, does anyone think Duke might've won this game if they still had Michael Thompson and his 5 fouls? To me, Thompson's transfer was something I remember thinking about as the fouls began to rack up over the course of the game.

Okafor PF=3(IIRC)-in trouble in the 1st half only.
Shelden PF=5
Shav PF=5
Nick PF=5
Luol PF=3(?) and he played C the last few minutes(?) when all our big guys F'ed out.

How many more fouls did we need? At one point fairly early in the 2nd half K screamed at the refs about the 1:8 foul discrepancy and the reply apparently was something on the order of "I'll look into it." (Was valentine one of those clowns? We probably could have added Thompson and another big or two and they would have still all fouled out. Speculation, of course, about more big guys, but that officiating was horrendous.

[devildeac]

Not agreed. I was shattered when JJ's playing days were ended at the hands of brutality in Georgia. He looked like a punching bag when that one was over. I wanted a title for him so bad I could honestly taste it.

I would place that game first, the '04 UConn game second, '02 Indiana third, '99 UConn fourth, and '98 Kentucky fifth (in terms of last 15 years).

I was more sad after the UConn and LSU games and more angry/violently mad after the Kentucky and Indiana games. How about some of you?

Why sad after the U-con(s) and LSU games and angry after the other two? I would rate anger higher after the poor officiating in the 2004 game, the LSU game with the mugging JJ absorbed and after the whistle aspiration(medical term for choking on a metallic, sound-producing device that an official is known to use on some occasions in a proper manner) that ended the 2002 game. JJ got little support from the perimeter in that game with others shooting about 3-18 also. Shelded played a great game.

[Cameron]

Why sad after the U-con(s) and LSU games and angry after the other two?

I guess those losses were more sad for me personally because of the fact that I had loved Chris Duhon (my favorite Blue Devil of all-time, as many here know) and JJ Redick so dearly as Duke players. It was just too hard watching them exit the NCAAs for the final time as Blue Devils.

As for the Kentucky and Indiana games, I think I was more angry because of the rather LARGE leads we had in both. We had a 17-point lead on UK and a 19-point lead on Indiana, and we blew them both. I couldn't believe we had blown such winnable games that horribly, thus the anger.

And as for the '02 South Regional Semis, perhaps this past post of mine on EarlJam's famous "Duke and Destruction" thread will help out my point of view:

Well, my experiences with Duke and Destruction compare similarly with Earl's. I was in Columbus at the time, attending the Ohio High School Boy's State Championships. As I watched the NCAA South Regional play before my eyes that night, my beloved Devils took me on a schizophrenic roller-coaster ride that I will hopefully forget one day.

After the funeral-like conclusion to the 2002 Indiana game, I discovered that I had a rather large problem; basically, that I was not like other, more normal sports observers. I found out in those first few somber seconds after the missed free-throw, the missed foul call, the missed chance at a repeat national championship, the misinterpretation of senior warrior Matt Christensen's keen sense for detail in noticing the college rule book had been violated on that fateful last play that was, instead, mistaken for violent rage, that I was a psychopath fanatic.

Within a minute of the game's finale, I was already standing on the corner of Lane Avenue in Columbus, outside of Ohio State's Schottenstien Center. I ended up sitting there, leaned against a concrete wall, for nearly an hour, trying to recount the steps I had taken to let my life get to that point. Why, I was asking myself, did I let a team and a game that I have no control over, whatsoever, playing in a contest that was hundreds of miles away, cause me to shatter a bar stool into small fragments against a brick wall while violently yelling explicates towards a sea of Hoosier loyalists, before being escorted out of the building and banned for the remainder of the night session by arena security?

Duke Blue. That's the conclusion I finally arrived at.

(Note that I was being heckled beyond belief by those same Hoosiers fans all night. As is often the case in Anti-Duke Columbus, I was the only Duke fan in the crowd, sporting my 2001 warmup button shirt with all the pride in the world.)

[devildeac]

I guess those losses were more sad for me personally because of the fact that I had loved Chris Duhon (my favorite Blue Devil of all-time, as many here know) and JJ Redick so dearly as Duke players. It was just too hard watching them exit the NCAAs for the final time as Blue Devils.

As for the Kentucky and Indiana games, I think I was more angry because of the rather LARGE leads we had in both. We had a 17-point lead on UK and a 19-point lead on Indiana, and we blew them both. I couldn't believe we had blown such winnable games that horribly, thus the anger.

And as for the '02 South Regional Semis, perhaps this past post of mine on EarlJam's famous "Duke and Destruction" thread will help out my point of view:

Well, my experiences with Duke and Destruction compare similarly with Earl's. I was in Columbus at the time, attending the Ohio High School Boy's State Championships. As I watched the NCAA South Regional play before my eyes that night, my beloved Devils took me on a schizophrenic roller-coaster ride that I will hopefully forget one day.

After the funeral-like conclusion to the 2002 Indiana game, I discovered that I had a rather large problem; basically, that I was not like other, more normal sports observers. I found out in those first few somber seconds after the missed free-throw, the missed foul call, the missed chance at a repeat national championship, the misinterpretation of senior warrior Matt Christensen's keen sense for detail in noticing the college rule book had been violated on that fateful last play that was, instead, mistaken for violent rage, that I was a psychopath fanatic.

Within a minute of the game's finale, I was already standing on the corner of Lane Avenue in Columbus, outside of Ohio State's Schottenstien Center. I ended up sitting there, leaned against a concrete wall, for nearly an hour, trying to recount the steps I had taken to let my life get to that point. Why, I was asking myself, did I let a team and a game that I have no control over, whatsoever, playing in a contest that was hundreds of miles away, cause me to shatter a bar stool into small fragments against a brick wall while violently yelling explicates towards a sea of Hoosier loyalists, before being escorted out of the building and banned for the remainder of the night session by arena security?

Duke Blue. That's the conclusion I finally arrived at.

(Note that I was being heckled beyond belief by those same Hoosiers fans all night. As is often the case in Anti-Duke Columbus, I was the only Duke fan in the crowd, sporting my 2001 warmup button shirt with all the pride in the world.)

Good explanation. Thanks.

[Coballs]

I guess those losses were more sad for me personally because of the fact that I had loved Chris Duhon (my favorite Blue Devil of all-time, as many here know) and JJ Redick so dearly as Duke players. It was just too hard watching them exit the NCAAs for the final time as Blue Devils.

As for the Kentucky and Indiana games, I think I was more angry because of the rather LARGE leads we had in both. We had a 17-point lead on UK and a 19-point lead on Indiana, and we blew them both. I couldn't believe we had blown such winnable games that horribly, thus the anger.

And as for the '02 South Regional Semis, perhaps this past post of mine on EarlJam's famous "Duke and Destruction" thread will help out my point of view:

Well, my experiences with Duke and Destruction compare similarly with Earl's. I was in Columbus at the time, attending the Ohio High School Boy's State Championships. As I watched the NCAA South Regional play before my eyes that night, my beloved Devils took me on a schizophrenic roller-coaster ride that I will hopefully forget one day.

After the funeral-like conclusion to the 2002 Indiana game, I discovered that I had a rather large problem; basically, that I was not like other, more normal sports observers. I found out in those first few somber seconds after the missed free-throw, the missed foul call, the missed chance at a repeat national championship, the misinterpretation of senior warrior Matt Christensen's keen sense for detail in noticing the college rule book had been violated on that fateful last play that was, instead, mistaken for violent rage, that I was a psychopath fanatic.

Within a minute of the game's finale, I was already standing on the corner of Lane Avenue in Columbus, outside of Ohio State's Schottenstien Center. I ended up sitting there, leaned against a concrete wall, for nearly an hour, trying to recount the steps I had taken to let my life get to that point. Why, I was asking myself, did I let a team and a game that I have no control over, whatsoever, playing in a contest that was hundreds of miles away, cause me to shatter a bar stool into small fragments against a brick wall while violently yelling explicates towards a sea of Hoosier loyalists, before being escorted out of the building and banned for the remainder of the night session by arena security?

Duke Blue. That's the conclusion I finally arrived at.

(Note that I was being heckled beyond belief by those same Hoosiers fans all night. As is often the case in Anti-Duke Columbus, I was the only Duke fan in the crowd, sporting my 2001 warmup button shirt with all the pride in the world.)

Obsess much? You must have put on quite a show that night.

[Cameron]

Obsess much?

Oh, quite.